Shift with the Tides

“Sunny day today,” Luna said with a forced smile, looking out the window at the blue, cloudless sky stretched over Equestria. No one heard her; Luna only spoke to save herself—if only for a moment—from the sound of her sister’s short, heavy breaths. Celestia was sleeping in her bed, facing Luna’s back.

Even after talking, Luna kept the fake smile on her face. She reminisced about the happier mood and silly pranks she and Celestia played on each other before this entire fiasco started; unfortunately, the happy thoughts didn’t help make her smile any less fake. Celestia’s rhythmic pants were interrupted when she groaned softly. Fever dreams never were pleasant.

The smile persisted, despite how terrible Luna was feeling. She remembered hearing once from somebody that forcing a smile, even when sad or upset, can “trick” the mind into thinking it’s supposed to be happy, and as such you’ll become even a shred happier as a result.

Luna’s cheeks were tired. Her face fell flat.

Whoever said that was full of crap.

When the train’s brakes were applied, the large metal wheels gliding on the tracks screamed and came to an abrupt halt, grinding against the tracks at the Ponyville train station. When the passenger cars stopped and opened their doors, Rarity and Applejack walked out together, continuing the conversation they were having during the trip back home.

“I still don’t feel right just leaving them by themselves,” Rarity asserted again. “There must be something that we could do to ease Luna’s burden, yes?”

Applejack didn’t disagree, but it’s not like either of them could think of anything to do; they were even less in the know than Luna or Celestia—and at this point, less than Twilight and Rainbow. “If she asks for help, then Ah’ll gladly give it. But if Luna says she don’t need our help, than Ah ain’t gonna hound her on it. Besides, you’re helping out with the decor for that ‘Mountain Ballroom’ or whatever it was, right?”

“It’s the Mountaintop Ball, Applejack,” Rarity swiftly corrected. She twisted her head to let her mane swing around dramatically. “It is an annual event, somewhat like the Grand Galloping Gala, but much, much more formal.”

Applejack rolled her eyes at Rarity’s sparkling face. “Oh goody,” she drawled.

Rarity pouted and shot a look at the tasteless southerner. “This is important, Applejack. It will be Luna and Celes—well, I don’t know if Celestia will make it to the Ball, after that incident, but Luna will be there. Surrounded by the public, it brings her down to earth in the eyes of everyone, makes her seem more pony—which would help everyone warm up from the rather frosty reception to her…you know.”

A pause in their conversation allowed their ears to pick up an adjacent conversation. On their far left, walking towards the train they’d just exited, was a mare and stallion talking about the princess of the night. “It’s disgusting, is what it is,” the mare said with disgust. Her eyebrows puckered tightly into the middle of her forehead. “Shameful enough to be promiscuous for anypony, much less royalty.”

The scarf on the stallion’s neck bobbed with his head when he nodded in agreement. “I think what bothers me the most is how blatantly poor this cover-up is. I’m personally offended they think we’re stupid enough to believe their crap. You can’t not know how you became pregnant.” Both Applejack and Rarity halted—Applejack mid-step—and they glared at the two ponies, not that they noticed, with their backs turned to Rarity and Applejack. “I even heard a little bit ago that Princess Celestia is sending that one ‘Twilight’ mare on a wild goose chase to find out the ‘reason’ behind Princess Luna’s pregnancy.” He blew a raspberry in the air, and the mare giggled; Applejack could see steam coming off Rarity’s blazing-red face.

The free-hanging end of the stallion’s scarf glowed sky-blue, and with a swift and tight tug he found himself suddenly eye-to-eye with a very preppy-looking white unicorn. “Listen here, Buster,” Rarity growled as the stallion struggled to loosen the noose around his neck, “don’t go around making baseless assumptions when you know absolutely nothing of the situation.” The stallion pulled enough space to gasp for air just before Rarity brought him even closer to her face and brought the scarf tighter around his neck. “You need more faith in your princess; she hasn’t kept any secrets from us!”

The mare was walking up to Rarity and Applejack, as well as trying to pry her friend out of Rarity’s death-grip. “We need more faith in her?” the mare sneered. “It sounds to me like you have a bit too much faith in her. What’s your reasoning, eh?” she said as she helped the stallion finally worm his way from Rarity. “You say it’s ‘cause she’s being so honest? What, you think she could’ve hidden being pregnant for eleven months? Obviously, the best thing to do was to announce it immediately.” She stopped her rebuttal a moment to pat the coughing stallion on the back comfortingly. “It only makes sense for her to do. But it was a stupid idea was to declare that you don’t even know how you got pregnant. For one thing, are you honestly trying to tell me Luna’s a virgin? Or are you saying it doesn’t add up because she hasn’t ridden the ol’ bologna pony in a while?”

Even Applejack’s orange face lit up like a neon sign. Talking so casually about their country’s princess having sex? How dare this girl! And the mare’s odd euphemism certainly didn’t help. Nonetheless, she brought up a good point that Applejack hated to admit to herself. Honestly, what reason do we have to believe Luna is telling the truth? All this—it really doesn’t make any sense…

No. There is no explanation, no good reason as to why this is happening. Luna has absolutely no excuse, at least not a good one. However. “Sometimes you simply need to believe in someponies, girlie.” The mare snorted at Applejack’s blind faith in Luna. “Y’all say you don’t have a reason to believe what the Princess claims. Well, Ah don’t have a reason not to believe in her.” Applejack took a step forward and nudged Rarity in the shoulder, motioning that it’s about time they ended this conversation. As she and Rarity turned their backs to the two ponies, Applejack said to the air. “Don’t know about you two, but Ah’m gonna stay faithful to her ‘less good reason comes for me not to. And it’d take some really good reason, Ah can tell ya that much.”

The two exited the train station without looking back. Applejack could tell just by the small grunts on her left that Rarity wasn’t satisfied. Honestly, Applejack wasn’t too happy either, but even as her face wore a frown, her eyes sparked with inspiration. “You wanna help Princess Luna, Rare?” Applejack gave an optimistic grin to the fuming Rarity. A sense of direction always made her happier than wandering about aimlessly. “Let’s find Pinkie and Fluttershy; Ah betcha half of Equestria is stirring up somethin’ awful about Luna’s thing. These ponies need someponies to cool their hot heads.”

Rarity’s scowl inverted and she mirrored the earth pony’s optimism at the idea. She slung an arm around Applejack’s shoulders and gave a quick squeeze of joy. “That’s an idea if I ever heard one. Can’t let Twilight and Rainbow outdo us, now can we?”

For an old stone building filled with old books and older ponies, both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were surprised at the strength of the temple’s security. Unfortunately, the temple’s blockade was being projected at them; Twilight wished the monks were as weak and frail as they had first appeared to be.

The glowing wall was keeping them from through the door in the lobby opposite the library, which was the area that contained rooms for the monks and guests—guests which included one Changeling Queen. The old stallion that had greeted the girls initially was standing next to a shorter, frailer stallion with a white mane flowing down to the bridge of his nose. Both were keeping watch of their two new guests causing a ruckus in the lobby, trying everything from magically walking through the adjacent walls to slamming straight into their magic barrier they set up in front of the door. Twilight and Rainbow didn’t let that stop them; they really wanted to get at Chrysalis.

“Please stop that,” the frailer, smaller monk said plainly. Whether he could actually see through his thick, ruffled white bangs, or if he could simply tell what was going on based on the noise, he wasn’t happy with the girls’ behavior.

Rainbow took a break from hitting the magic wall and instead directed her anger at the cloaked bag of bones that had the gall to tell her what to do. “What gives!? How can you let HER into this place?! I thought this place was supposed to be secret and safe!”

“We’re not at liberty to tell you why,” the taller monk replied with an annoyed scowl. Had these two troublemakers not come at the request of Princess Luna, he would’ve cast the girls out into the snow by now.

Twilight took a break from her attempt to bypass the dark-blue barrier of light to instead direct her frustration at the tight-lipped stallion who was too stubborn to answer a simple question. “We’ve seen first-hoof the evil cast by that changeling! She even attacked Celestia for pony’s sake!”

“We are aware.” There was a quick glow of dark blue underneath the taller monk’s nest of white hair when he saw that Rainbow was rearing to attack the wall again. She didn’t notice the flash that made it even darker in color, and she brought the less-bruised of her two shoulders straight into the barrier again. The monk cringed at Rainbow’s high-pitched yelp of pain. He didn’t like having to take sides in this matter, but Chrysalis’s directions were to keep these two away from her, and he was obligated to obey them. “But I hope you realize we aren’t trying to inconvenience you. We have reasons for our actions—try and see this from out point of view.”

Twilight hung her head and sighed heavily. She started towards the library door and beckoned to Rainbow to follow. “Let’s go; obviously, we’re not giving up on talking to her”—she shot a look at the two monks watching—“but we may as well use this time to read the book that brought us here in the first place.”

Rainbow pretended to be upset about leaving, but she couldn’t be happier to let her bruises heal themselves. Of course, she made sure to angrily stomp as hard as she could on the smooth stone stairs when she followed behind Twilight.

Walking through the first wooden door into the long musty hallway, Rainbow immediately spoke up. “What in the world do you think that—what did she say her name was? Chrysalis?—what do you think Chrysalis is even doing here?! Why would those monks obey her like that?” Twilight opened her mouth, but Rainbow continued her rant. “You think this is a setup or something?” The pegasus’s magenta eyes darted to the left, then the right, then to the ceiling and finally to the floor, making sure there weren’t any traps waiting for her that she hadn’t noticed earlier.

“Well I—”

“And why would she know about Princess Luna? Was it her that did something to make Celestia all crazy, do you think?”

Rainbow looked up and placed her hoof on her chin, trying to think of other questions to shout at Twilight and the walls. Taking advantage of the pause, Twilight zipped her friend’s rambling mouth shut, literally. Unlike Rainbow, Twilight took her time to gather her thoughts before speaking.

“…Well, obviously something is going on that we were never supposed to know about.” Her horn glowed, and the door they had just reached swung open; Rainbow glared when Twilight still hadn’t turned her lips back to normal. “The monks weren’t even aware that Chrysalis didn’t want us knowing she was here, so she must have assumed we’d never discover this ‘secret,’ and didn’t feel the need to tell the monks she didn’t want us seeing her here.” She was glancing around at the mass of ancient books wasting away on the shelves, this time looking to avoid making eye contact with a very peeved Rainbow Dash. “Even now, though, she blows us off; she’s acting as though this discovery of ours hasn’t compromised anything, and that may very well be the truth. But was are her plans, then…?”

Twilight bit her lip in thought; Rainbow shoved her wing into Twilight’s side, still waiting for her lips to come back. Knowing she couldn’t pretend to not notice a push so hard it made her stumble, Twilight finally looked at Rainbow, pursing her lips to suppress a smile. “Okay, okay.” Her horn glowed and she reversed the spell. “Just don’t start rambling off questions again; it doesn’t help either of us figure this out.”

Rainbow’s mouth was open, prepared to talk again, but Twilight’s stipulation made her quit before she started. Instead, she licked a piece of food out from her back teeth and followed Twilight wordlessly.

The door to the small chamber from before was still ajar, and as Twilight entered the room she saw the book they were after sitting patiently on the floor between the two middle bookshelves; following Chrysalis’s leave, Twilight and Rainbow had chased after her, forcing the monk to have to take action and stop them from ramming down their special guest. The wood in the fireplace was nothing more than small orange embers and charred chunks now; nobody must’ve come to this part of the library since then.

“Maybe Chrysalis wants to help us?” Rainbow finally said, her voice coming from just outside the musty room; she wasn’t going in if given a choice. Twilight was busy putting out the dim remains of the fireplace; Rainbow didn’t see the unicorn’s face contort at the suggestion, but she did hear the silence met with it. “Well, granted,” she started, “this is the same queen that tried to overtake Canterlot with an army of changelings, but you gotta admit that this whole situation is really, really weird.” Twilight exited the room with the book and looked at the pegasus laying back-up against the stone wall with a raised eyebrow. Rainbow continued. “Let’s not forget: Princess Luna is pregnant. There’s no telling what other crazy things may be happening right now.”

Twilight watched Rainbow quietly for several seconds, then turned her attention to the reading area hiding behind the bookcases at the far end of the long room. “…Yeaaah, let’s just read this book before coming to any conclusions, okay?”

The temple was as quiet as ever, and the acoustics in the library were terrible. Still, the reading area wasn’t very far from where the Twilight had been with Rainbow and the monk. All but one stool was stacked against the wall, and it had been left next to one of the tables. This is where she was reading? One would have to be really immersed in a book to not hear ponies talking so loudly in such a quiet place. Obviously, Twilight hadn’t taken the changeling queen to be the reading type. She scowled when she realized she now had a higher opinion of Chrysalis.

Rainbow grimaced at the loud thump when the red-bounded book landed on the granite table. She only just realized how thick the thing was. As Twilight turned on the oil lamp in the center of the table, Rainbow scooted away and started to browse the other reading options on the shelves; all the book’s that had titles on their spines were either too worn out to read or in a language Rainbow didn’t recognize. “I don’t suppose they have any action/adventure fiction books in here?”

Twilight smiled, a smile which twisted into a teeth-clenched frown when she took a seat on the splintery wooden stool. She stood back up and decided that being neck-level with the tabletop was better than pulling wood shards from her flank. Replying to her friend’s earlier question, Twilight said, “This is a place for preserving knowledge, Rainbow, not entertainment. Now come over and sit down; we’ll need as many heads together as we can get if we want any answers from this book—uh.” Twilight’s apprehensive noise made Rainbow freeze mid-action, in a squat over the same stool Twilight had just pushed away. “I’d just use the floor if I were you.”

Rainbow gave the stool one glance before kicking it away and joined shoulder-to-shoulder with Twilight to start reading.

Memoirs of Terror: Story of the Eater

A Collection of Writings by a Community in Panic

By Feather Waltz

Author’s Note: Part One of this book contains many pieces of literature written by the ancestor’s of my generation which I have struggled over many years to attain. I have edited none of their writing. Neither grammar nor spelling. The purpose of Part One is for the reader to fully understand the threat that was the Eater, a monster held responsible for the disappearance of thousands over one hundred and fifty years ago..

“What in the—” Twilight started angrily.

“Eh?” Rainbow was spending more time listening to Twilight read aloud than actually looking at the book.

“Look at that!” Twilight pointed to the underlined phrase ‘one hundred and fifty years ago.’ The underline was obviously added in, the ink being a darker shade of black and not even a straight line. The underline continued off the sentence and pointed to a printed note in the same ink. Squeezed in the right margin of the page was: ‘approx. 2400-2600 years past.’

Rainbow’s eyes wandered further down the page, and there was another small note scribbled, with the words ‘unicorn?,’ ‘earth?,’ and ‘pegasus?’ pointing to the word ‘equine’ in the book. She brought her head closer to read the tiny text, just as the book glowed purple and the pages turned furiously one after the other, making Rainbow jolt back. Turning to Twilight, Rainbow could see Twilight was ready to blow a gasket.

There were at least three scribbled-in notes per page. For the entire book.

Twilight’s jaw was clenched so hard, Rainbow swore she could see Twilight’s teeth being pushed back into her gums. “…Uh, Twi? You alright?”

“DEFACING A BOOK!” Twilight screamed. “It’s ONE thing to write notes in your OWN PERSONAL COPY; this is PRICELESS KNOWLEDGE—it was her, ‘Chrysalis,’ WASN’T IT!?”

Twilight stood up and slammed the book shut, starting off back to the lobby. Just around the bookshelf nearest them was the first monk they met, standing still but body shuddering.

“D-Dinner is ready…” the old stallion said nervously, his face so white it made his beard look grey. He must had been coming to get the two and was almost there before Twilight exploded with rage. Seeing the fear on his face, Twilight immediately calmed herself down, but she still angry. She gave a quick apology before scolding the stallion in Chrysalis’s stead.

“Look at this!” The book flew into his face and flipped through its pages wildly, showing off the graffiti. “Chrysalis has completely defaced this book! Are you going to let THAT slide, too?!”

For once, something regarding the changeling queen surprised the monk. Color returned to his face, but it was much more red than usual. His own magic took the book from Twilight, and he brought it to himself for closer inspection. “What in the? Well, we’ll have to discuss this with her,” he said like a father preparing to spank his misbehaving kid. “Come; you two arrived to the temple late, but it was just in time for us to accommodate dinner for you as well. —Ah, and, she’s going to be dining with us. So please don’t…uh…just don’t, okay?”

Chrysalis wasn’t the biggest fan of the sloppy vegetable soup that the monks had cooked for the evening, but seeing as she was their guest, she figured she wasn’t one to complain. However, after the taste from her first spoonful didn’t exactly go down her throat easily, she decided to stir the soup back and forth, playing with it instead of eating it. She fiddled her spoon around the green slop that had chunks of potato and carrot. She couldn’t believe these old guys seriously ate this gunk on a daily basis. I suppose the elderly don’t have as good a sense of taste as the young. Her bored lips cocked to one side of her face as she mulled over the thought. The slit pupils of her swampy-green eyes moved slowly slid from left to right, taking in the sight of the dining hall. I’m not one to talk. Older than these monks, older than most of these books—heck, I’m as old as this damn temple.

Thinking about the temple made her realize just how chilly it was in the room, even with the fireplace roaring directly behind her. Chrysalis shivered and decided to have another mouthful of the soup in front of her, if for nothing else than to warm up.

Just then, the double-doors to the temple lobby swung open with ferocious force. Standing in the middle of the open doorway was Twilight Sparkle, her eyes locking on to Chrysalis. Twilight had overestimated the available swinging radius of the doors, both of which slammed into a half-finished statue and left both the lobby and dining hall echoing with the resonant clatter of the wooden doors.

The noise took everyone by surprise. At one end of the long, rectangular dining hall were two monks making the boiling green goop in a large round metal pot. One of the chefs—the one stirring the soup—stumbled with a gasp that sucked the air out of his frail lungs, and he dropped the large ladle in the soup, casing him to gasp again in horror; when he instinctively reached for the falling ladle, his hoof made contact with the steaming soup, making him cry another gasp in pain. Chrysalis was watching the poor monk with an opened-mouth half-smile, not sure if she should pity the old man or laugh at his exaggerated actions. She was so focused on him that she didn’t notice Twilight’s angry eyes trying to burn a hole through Chrysalis’s head.

“Hey, you!” Twilight shouted loudly enough to steal Chrysalis’s attention. The odd-looking grin on the changeling queen’s face made Twilight raise a confused eyebrow, but Chrysalis’s expression faded as soon as she saw Twilight, and was quickly replaced with a detached, apathetic stare.

“What now?” Chrysalis turned her attention to the bowl of soup in front of her that was starting to solidify on the surface. “Can’t I at least enjoy my dinner without your interruptions?”

Twilight stomped as loudly as she could towards Chrysalis and took a heavy seat into the table; it made from wood so old it was as grey as the stone floor, and the cracking of several splinters sounded when Twilight sat, but she paid it no mind. Chrysalis peered over the pissed unicorn’s shoulder and saw the rainbow-haired pegasus from earlier; she half-grinned when she realized the talk about all six of them being here was bull.

Twilight didn’t know why this big ugly bug kept making that condescending smile so freaking much, but she was getting sick of it really quickly. She slammed the red-bound book on the table so hard that its pages coughed up a cloud of dust that evenly coated Chrysalis’s lukewarm soup. Humoring herself, the changeling took a spoonful of the soup and tried it with the additional seasoning. Smacking her tongue on the roof of her mouth, she turned to Twilight and casually said, “Hm. It really accentuates the flavor, but leaves much to be desired. Would you like to try some on your soup, too?”

The monk and Rainbow walked through the doorway into the dining hall, and the monk closed the doors behind him to keep in the heat of the fireplace. “P—er, I mean, ‘Chrysalis’.” His horn glowed dark blue under his shaggy mane, and the book flipped open several pages, displaying a sample of Chrysalis’s notes; this was the first time her expression showed any kind of unease. She winced, like a child waiting to hear what the punishment was going to be for disobeying her parents. “This is the only copy we know of in existence. What you’ve done is a terrible, terrible thing.”

Chrysalis looked at Twilight. The changeling’s brow was furrowed angrily, but she was also biting the left of her lip uncomfortably. Twilight didn’t know what to make of such an expression. To both Rainbow and Twilight, Chrysalis said, “You mean you’re the ones who were after this book? I suppose…that makes sense.” She switched to biting the right of her lip, her sharp canine nibbling on the soft black flesh.

“What gives, huh?” Rainbow said in a much kinder tone than she had wanted. To make up for it, she said her next sentence in a such a gruff tone it sounded comical. “What do you know about Princess Luna? Do you know what’s going on? And just what’s with that book, anyway? What does the ‘Eater’ have to do with anything?”

Chrysalis was looking down, her eyes darting left and right to weigh all her options. Finally, after a silence disturbed only by someone in the background blowing hard on his first-degree burn, her face went stoic and she locked eyes with Twilight. “We both fully know how we feel about each other, but let me ask you something: How far would you be willing to trust me?”

The pain felt almost nostalgic. Cadance’s splitting headache felt just as it did the last time she had used her magic to—and past—its limits. It certainly felt stranger now, though. Last time, all her mental and physical energy was going into her magic so her barrier could cover the entire Crystal Empire.

Now, she was using much the same barrier to keep Celestia’s fever-driven frenzy from escaping the scorched bedroom.

When Celestia’s blazing fire spiraled from her horn and tore into the barrier, both Luna and Cadance flinched in unison. Like a flashbulb memory, Cadance found her mind going over the past minute or so, all the while struggling to reinforce Luna’s dark-navy sphere with her own neon-blue one.

She had just arrived to Canterlot. Obviously, she’d heard about Luna’s pregnancy, but work in the Crystal Empire had kept her from even writing more than a letter in reply for the past few weeks. With the work whittled down to where Shining Armor could handle it solo, Cadance hurried to Canterlot to sit down and talk with Luna. Luna wrote in a letter sent this morning that she would be in Celestia’s room most of the day, apparently tending to her sister for some untold reason. Already knowing her way around the castle, Cadance traveled through the empty upper floors to Celestia’s room; the door—rather modest and plain for someone in charge of an entire country—was within Cadance’s sight when a powerful roar made her instinctively duck and cover her head. A heavy, magic force flew out the bedroom and tore the door from its brass hinges, the sound making Cadance scream and close her eyes. The door didn’t touch the floor when it sped across the hallway and embedded snugly into the adjacent wall. Next thing Cadance knew, she found herself standing—dumbfounded—in a broken and charred doorway, gawking at a blackened and sweating Luna giving everything she had to prevent Celestia’s solar flares from damaging the singed room any further. Luna’s ethereal mane appeared undamaged, but the condition of her skin told Cadance that Luna wasn’t fast enough with her protection spell. But at least Luna wasn’t charcoal—something Cadance couldn’t say for most of the objects in the room.

And the next thing she knew, she was standing on Luna’s right, giving everything she had in assisting the princess in suppressing her sister. Cadance didn’t even know if Luna was aware of her presence, but that didn’t matter at the moment. Cadance wondered why in the world she bothered to think about that at a time like this. The pink alicorn’s derailed train of thought stopped at the sound of Luna shouting to her—though not taking her eyes off of her sister.

“ON MY SIGNAL,” Luna shouted over the sound of Celestia’s barrages striking the magical sphere. It made an ear-piercing noise of shattering glass, and it drilled through Cadance’s eardrums and into her head, making her headache even worse. “ON MY SIGNAL, LEAVE AN OPENING FOR ME.”

Cadance continued restoring the damage being done to the sphere as Celestia continued to flail attacks. Looking at Luna, she read the alicorn’s lips softly speaking,

Three.

Two.

One.

“NOW!”

Cadance heard her neck own crack from the force of her head turning so fast. Adrenaline pumping through her slowed down time, and she watched, in slow-motion, Luna leaping towards the sphere, wings spread and teeth grit. As the dark-blue aura gave way to make a Luna-sized hole in the barrier, Cadance did the same. Luna continued sailing ever so slowly. Closer. The heat of Celestia’s previous attack escaped the hole and pounded Cadance like a meteor, but she held her ground. Luna’s sparkling, starry mane contorted and twisted in temperatures so hot it blurred and bent the light around it.

Luna’s hoof extended ahead of her. The sound of Cadance’s heartbeat in her ears was deafening. She saw Luna’s mouth move, but couldn’t hear the words. Celestia didn’t see her sister coming towards her. Her eyes were closed, her face was panicked and desperate, and she was readying yet another attack.

Luna’s arm was fully extended. She was nearing her target. Chunks of black, scrapes of pink, and blotches of red adorned her dark-blue coat. The battle couldn’t have started more than a minute ago, but Luna was still covered with ash. A thin line of her navy face showed through the ash, stretching from the corner of her eye to the end of her cheek.

Cadance cringed. She didn’t hear the crack, but she could still imagine the sound.

The crystal shoe on Luna’s hoof split down the middle from the impact with Celestia’s lower jaw. The force rippled like rings spreading out on water over Celestia’s face. Her entire head slowly recoiled with the blow. For a moment, she appeared to have awakened, but she fell unconscious.

It was over. For now.

As Luna and Cadance both dispelled their barriers, Celestia fell to the ground. Her bed—now ashes—flew up in the air and stuck to Celestia’s body, coloring her a light grey. Luna collapsed onto her sister, panting hard with her eyes on the verge of rolling back into her head. She looked up at Cadance. “It’s…nice to…see you again…”

Sparse pieces of ash in the air fell into Cadance’s wide-open mouth, but she couldn’t bring herself to close it. “…What the hell just happened?”

Luna’s panting stopped and she took a dry swallow, then started panting again. “Tia hasn’t been the best these past days.” Luna’s throat hurt to speak; her vocal chords felt shriveled and dry. “Both her physical and mental condition has been deteriorating fast.” Clearing her throat, Luna got up off her sister’s limp body. The adrenaline gone, Luna could feel every burn and scrape on her body.

“What do we do?” Cadance asked, not knowing what else to say. “We certainly can’t mention this to anyone. Most ponies are suspicious of you and Celestia as it is. Knowing this…the entire country would…”

Sky-blue strands of light came from Cadance’s horn as she cast a repairing spell that twisted and turned around the room. As the strands flowed around the cinders, the room began to rebuild itself.

Luna tried to walk, but her foreleg gave out and she fell on her knee. Cadance trotted to the alicorn’s side and helped her back up with a wing. “It shouldn’t be too hard to keep secret,” Luna said, “as much as I hate to do it. With a little magical treatment, I’m sure that these scars will heal completely within two or three weeks.”

Cadance’s reversal spell was difficult to keep up, and she fell to the ground from the pressure of her headache; it was Luna’s turn to lift Cadance up, and she thanked Luna. “The Mountaintop Ball is in nine days, though,” Cadance said, pressing against the pressure in her head with her foreleg. “What are we to do about that?”

A tired sigh whistled through Luna’s clenched teeth. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, Cadance. Now is not the time for worrying about a silly public event.” She looked back at Celestia and lifted her into the air as Cadance’s spell turned a charred pile of ash back into Celestia’s canopy bed. “I have no time to worry. I need to be strong—for the both of us.”